Recruitment 2015: I'm officially a Delta Gamma!

This past week has been insanely crazy. Over a thousand girls moved in early to go through rush to potentially get the opportunity to join one of the eleven sororities at the University of Oklahoma. Recruitment started with Round 1, which was 2 days long. I visited 5 sororities on the first day and 6 on the second.  I absolutely fell in love with the majority of the chapters here. I could easily decipher the genuineness from fakeness in many of the houses. After Round 1, I anxiously awaited for my schedule to arrive at my dorm room to see which houses I was invited back to. All the girls on my floor were told daily to not worry and “trust the system,” but it was so hard to not be anxious the entire week. Once I received my schedule, I had so many mixed emotions. I was so upset that I got cut from a few of the houses I truly loved and felt a connection with, but happy that I still had one sorority left that I was in love with- Delta Gamma. I knew from the beginning that I wanted to be in that house. I had a feeling like no other there. I actually felt at home. I knew the girls there liked me for me and not for whom I knew or what I had. I stayed very hopeful, anxious, and scared that DG would keep me throughout the week past all the rounds, and they did. After a week of being incredibly worried and unsure of what would happen, on bid day, I unfolded my paper to see “Delta Gamma” written boldly. I couldn’t stop crying; I was so happy. I quickly ran over to the house to find my name printed on one of the Anchors held up by one of my new sisters and found her. We took so many pictures including ones with the entire sorority. All the girls were so kind and welcoming. I was ecstatic and couldn’t wait to see what the next four years had in store for me at Delta Gamma. I felt like I belonged, and I couldn’t be happier.

Essential Beauty Products I Can't Live Without

1. Nars Creamy Radiant Concealer - This stuff is amazing. It's the best concealer I've ever used; it's perfect for covering up dark under eye circles, redness, and blemishes. I'm not kidding when I say I've gone through 4 of these. 

2. Beauty Blender - Okay, if you need any tool to blend out your foundation and concealer, this one's it. There's a lot of hype for a reason. You've gotta make sure you soak it in water first and squeeze it out before you use it. It blends your makeup seamlessly leaving a natural finish with no streaks. 

3. Lorac Pro Palette - This eyeshadow palette is my favorite out of my collection, hands down. It comes with a mini primer to put underneath your shadows making the colors more vibrant. It has 8 matte shadows along with 8 shimmer shadows of different shades making any eye look achievable. 

4. "Champagne Pop" Highlighter by Jaclyn Hill & Becca Cosmetics - This is the first highlighting powder I've used, and it's absolutely stunning. It gives the perfect amount of glow and shimmer and makes your skin radiant. For me personally, I love the way it looks on my pale skin tone when I use a light hand. I have, however, seen swatches of it on skin tones ranging from lightest to darkest with it looking just as great. 

These items are all highly recommended by me and are all available at Sephora online and in stores. Additionally, if you're interested in purchasing Champagne Pop, I would do it soon because it's limited addition! Let me know if you've tried or love any of these products :)

xoxo,

Shereen 

Hello, Destin

My parents spontaneously decided to take my brother and me on vacation right before I had to leave for school. It was a good and bad thing in my mind, because all I’d been thinking about is moving in and getting prepared for rush and just college, in general. I kept creating different scenarios of things that could go wrong throughout the process. My thoughts were cluttered with mixed emotions of happiness and sadness, and I didn’t really know how to get my mind to focus on the present. All I could get myself to do was to think about the same things that I continually thought about over and over again. I was also worrying about leaving home and missing my family and losing my friends. My anxiety and stress levels began to skyrocket right when my parents told us we were road tripping to Florida. I know what you must be thinking, why aren’t you excited to go to the beach and get away from everything? The answer to that would be that once I’ve started to think about something, I wont be able to stop. I hesitantly agreed and made sure to bring my planner with me so I could make specific To-Do lists while in the car and while I was there. I didn’t want to forget anything I needed to prepare, do, or buy before I moved in to start rush. Quickly after I arrived to our condo on the beach, I headed to the balcony and watched the waves crash with ease against the shore and vacationers sun tanning, swimming, and relaxing by the beautiful ocean. I took a deep breath in to help clear my mind of everything but that moment. The subtle breeze flowed through my hair as I watched the sun begin to set. I thought to myself that I couldn’t ruin this vacation with all my stress and unnecessary overthinking. I needed to start living in the moment, and that’s what I did. I went to the beach for hours every day, went shopping, and got to spend a lot of time with my family. I learned to just enjoy myself and be happy. Because isn’t that the purpose of life, anyway?